Aranzazu Carmona Orbezo, PhD Student.

Project: Optimisation of Capacitive Deionization Systems – An Electrochemical Approach.

Aranzazu obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Iberoamerican University, Mexico City, in 2010 and 2015, respectively. She was awarded the Conacyt-UoM scholarship, supported by the Mexican government, to obtain her PhD degree at the University of Manchester.

Her research project is related to the capacitive deionization of water, trying to understand the underlying mechanisms of traditional and flow systems through fundamental electrochemistry. Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a robust, energy-efficient and cost-effective promising alternative for desalination of water, compared to other established technologies such as reverse osmosis. In CDI, salts are removed from brackish water upon applying an electrical voltage difference between two porous electrodes, in which the ions will be temporarily immobilized. Through her research project, Aranzazu will design innovative setups and experimental systems to try to understand and improve the CDI and FCDI technology.

During her stay in Manchester, she has had the following achievements:

    • Finalist in the Eli and Britt Harari Graphene Enterprise Award 2017
    • Second Place in Falling Walls Lab Manchester 2017
    • First Runner-Up Bright SCIdea Challenge 2017
    • Oral presentation at ISE 69th annual meeting in Bologna, Italy
    • Poster presentation at Graphene Week 2018 in San Sebastian, Spain
    • Poster presentation at AIMEs 2018 in Cancun, Mexico, where she won a Poster Award
    • Oral presentation at Electrochemistry Northwest 2019 in Manchester, UK, where she won Best Student Presentation Award.
    • Oral presentation at Electrochem 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland.
    • Team Leader for the 2018/2019/2020 Manchester Calling Campaigns.
    • Pint of Science 2020 Media and Promotions Specialist.

Linked In Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/aranzazu-carmona-orbezo